Automatic stop-recorder



Jan. 31, 1950 R. H. ROUGHSEDGE ET A1. 2,495,825

AUToMATc STOP-RECORDER Filed July 29, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS ROBERT H. ROUGHSEDGE HANS e. Lus-rus 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 2 2 3 E l1. R Gm S DT S RES Y OSU E 2 THL N 2/7, P N vll- NG R mm ww o 5 M mgm A H. M 9 n 2 e 6 w 6 T 2 3 N 3/1 m m M L 6 A 4 4 R O R. H. ROUGHSEDGE ET AL AUTOMATIC STOP-RECORDER Patented Jan. l3l, 1950 AUTOMATIC STGP-RECORDER Robert H. Roughsedge, Ramsey, N. J., and Hans G. Lustig, New York, N. Y., assignors to Celancso Corporation of America, a corporation of' Delaware Application July 29, 1948, Serial No. 41,197

16 Claims.

This invention. relates to automatic stop-recorders, and relates more particularly to stop recorders employed in connection with a warpknitting machine.

During the production of knitted fabrics, particularly warp-knitted fabrics, a defect known as a stop-mark results each time the knitting machine is stopped. The number of such stop-marks in each bolt of fabric produced by the knitting machine is partly determinative of the grade of the knit fabric; the greater the number of stopmarks, the lower they grade of the knit fabric. Normally a record of the number of such stopmarks. is kept by the machine operator on a quality cardy which accompanies each bolt. of fabric, but this record cannot be relied upon to grade the fabric owing to the uncertainty as to its completeness. Accordingly, it has been necessary to inspect visually each bolt of fabric to determine the number of stop-marks, present in the knit fabric and assign a grade thereto based on the results of this inspection. Gbviously, the labor and equipment necessary to carry out such an inspection is considerable and there is always the possibility that the fabric will be. soiled or damaged by the additional handling it receives during inspection.

It is, accordingly, an important object of this invention to provide a novel automatic stop-ren corder, which will prepare a record of the number of machine stops during the preparation of each bolt of knit fabric, thereby eliminating the visual inspection of the fabric hitherto required.

Another object of this invention is to provide an automatic stop-recorder which will prepare a record of the number of times the apparatus to which itis connected, has been stopped'.

A further object of this invention is to provide in a knitting apparatus an automatic stop-recorder which. will prevent operation of the knitting machine until a card has been inserted therein and. from which the card cannot be removed Iwhile the knitting machine is running.

Other objects of this invention,4 together with certain details of construction and arrangements of parts, will be apparent from the following detailed description and claims.v

While the automatic stop-recorder of our invention is applicable to all types of machines, it is especially adapted for use with warp-knitting machines in connection with which it will now be described.

One preferred embodiment of our invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings. in

n which Fig. 1 is a sectional view of the` stop-recorder taken on line I-I in Fig. 2 in the direction of f the arrows,

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the stoprecorder, taken on line 2 -2 in Fig. 1 in the direction of the arrows,

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional vieW of the stoprecorder, taken on lineL 3,-3 in Fig. 2 inthe direction of the arrows, and

Fig. 4 is a circuit diagram illustrating the manner in which the stop-recorder is connected to a knitting machine. f.

Like reference numerals indicate like. parts throughout thel several viewsA of the drawings.

Referring now to the drawings for a detailed description of our invention a cabinet indicated generally by referencel numeral Il has mounted therein the various elements of the stop-recorder. The cabinet comprises a base I2 provided with mounting flanges I3, an end wall I4 and two side walls I-B having their ends I'I bent toward each other. Mounted inwardly of' the ends Il and serving as the other wall of the cabinet'is a transparent plate I8 of plastic or other suitable material, which is provided on its inner face with a circular groove I9 and a rectangular groove 20 whose purpose will hereinafter be described. A second plate 2I is mounted parallel to and spaced from the plate I8 by means of fianges 22 fastened to the walls I6, and the plates I8 and 2| define a channel 23 for receiving a card 24. The plate 2| is provided with a circular aperture 26 and a rectangular aperture 21,which apertures are aligned with and' provide access to the grooves I9 and ZD', respectively, in the plate I8. The upper end 29y of the plate 2'! is bent. away from the plate I8 and cooperates with a bevel 3D extending along the upper edge of said plate I3 to form a funnel 3l for guiding a card into the channel 23. A cover 32 having depending flanges 33 is provided to close the cabinet, which cover has an aperture 34 in. alignment with the channel 23 tov permit the insertion of a card therein.

A normally closed switch indicated generally by reference numeral 36 having a. switch operating arm 3'! is mounted on the wall I6y of the cahinet. The switch operating arm 31 carries a roller 38 at its free end and the switch is so positioned within the cabinet that the roller 33 extends through the aperture 2'! and rests in the groove 2t. The switch 36 is operatedlby the insertion of a card into the channel 23, which card will force the roller 38 out of the groove 2i! and thereby move the switch operating arm 3l.

A solenoid indicated generally by reference numeral 39 is fastened to the base l2 by means of screws 4| extending through brackets 42. The solenoid comprises a laminated core 43, a coil 44 and a bifurcated plunger -46 having a shaft 41, mounted thereon. When a current is passed through the coil 44 the plunger will be drawn inwardly in opening 48 in the core 43 thereby actuating the marking means of the stop-recorder as will appear in greater detail below.

Mounted on top of the solenoid core 43 by means of screws 52 is a bracket53 having upstanding arms 54 and 56 which are provided with apertures 51 and 58, respectively. A shaft 59 is rotatably mounted in the apertures 51 and 58 and fastened to said shaft 59 by means of a set screw 66 is the hub 6| of a ratchet wheel 82. The shaft 53 also carries collars 63 and 64 between the ratchet wheel 62 and the arms 54 and 56 respectively,

which collars serve to prevent longitudinal motion of the shaft in the apertures 51 and 58.

The ratchet wheel 62 is operated by means of a spring pawl 66 which has a hook 61 at one end thereof for engagement with ratchet teeth 68.

The other end of the spring pawl 66 is fastened as by means of rivets 69 to an arm 16 extending from the bracket 53. A cooperating lock pawl 1I having one end 12 bent at an angle to engage the ratchet teeth 68 is also fastened to the arm 18 by the rivets 69. Mounted between the spring pawl 66 and the lock pawl 1| are two leaf springs 13 which bear against and stiien the spring pawl 66.

A carriage indicated generally by reference numeral 14 is mounted for sliding movement on 1 the free end of the shaft 59 by means of a taper pin 16 extending into a keyway 11 in the shaft. The carriage includes two tapered sections 18 having therebetween a straight section 1s denning a generally U-shaped peripheral channel 8|. At one end of the carriage is a lug 82 carrying a cylindrical block 83 having a pin 84 at its end. The carriage is operated, as will be described with more particularity below, by means of a bar 86 one end of which ts into the channel 8| and the other end of which has a notch 81 to engage the shaft 41 carried by the plunger 46. The bar 86 is pivotally mounted by means of a stub shaft 88 between brackets 89 and 9| carried by the arm 54, the bar being Xed to and rotatable with said stub shaft. A collar 92 is fastened to one end Voi' said stub shaft 88 and carries a ratchet operating rod 93 which bears against the under surface of the spring pawl 66.

In Figure 4, there is shown a circuit of the electrical connections between the stop-recorder of our invention and the warp-knitting machine with which it is employed. The circuit includes a warp-knitting machine indicated diagrammati cally at |0| which receives three-phase power from lines |02, |03 and |64 through a manually operated switch |06 and a motor starter indicated generally by reference numeral |81. The motor starter includes three terminals |88, |09 and to which the power lines are fastened and switches II2, |13 and ||4 which may be closed by the operation of actuating bar ||6 to start the warpknitting machine |0 The starting circuit which operates the actuating bar I6 extends from the power terminal through a normally open push-button switch l l1 to a normally closed solenoid operated switch indicated generally by reference numeral 8. From the switch I 8, the starting circuit is completed through a solenoid 4 coil H9, operatively connected to the actuating bar ||6, to the power terminal |69.

When there is no card on the stop-recorder, switch contacts |2| of the switch 36 will be closed and current will flow from power terminals |22 and 23 through a solenoid coil |24 to draw switch 26 from its normally closed position thereby opening the starting circuit at contacts |21. With the starting circuit open, it will, of course, be inipossible to start the warp-knitting machine 46|.

When knitting is to begin, a card is inserted into the stop-recorder thereby moving the arm 31 to open the contacts 12| of the switch 36. This will interrupt the ilow of current through the solenoid coil |24 and permit the switch |28 to bridge the contacts |21 in the starting circuit. Thereafter, the warp-knitting machine Il may be started by closing the manually operated switch |66 and momentarily depressing the push-button switch |1. This will cause a flow of current through the solenoid coil H9 which will operate the actuating bar ||6 to close the switches ||2, 1|3 and I4 of the motor starter |91. Current will continue to flow to the solenoid coil H9 after the push-button switch ||1 is released, through holding contacts |28 which are closed by means of a switch |29 operated by the actuating bar l|6.

When the switches I|3 and 4 are closed, a current will also ow through the solenoid coil 44 and the magnetic field produced by this our rent will draw the bifurcated plunger 46 inwardly through the slot 48. This will carry the shaft 41 to the right and cause the bar 86 to rotate in a counterclockwise direction. The upper end of the bar 86 will move to the left sliding the carriage 14 along the shaft 59 thereby driving the pin 84 through the card 24 into the groove I9. So long as the switches I3 and 4 remain closed and the knitting machine continues to run, it will be impossible to remove the card 24 from the stop-recorder since it will remain engaged by the pin 84. The rotation of the bar 86 will also rotate the rod 93 upwardly against the spring pawl 66 exing said spring pawl and the leaf springs 13 and moving the hook 61 past one of the teeth 68.

The warp-knitting machine |D| may be stopped by opening a normally closed push-button switch 13| in the starting circuit, or by means of a stop motion |32 which may be of the type shown in United States Patents Numbers 2,290,257 and 2,403,548 or in our application Serial Number r191,538 filed December 13, 1947, or of any other type. The stop-motion |32 is connected in parallel with the switch contacts |2| and will complete the circuit from the power terminals |22 and |23 through the solenoid coil |24 in the event that a warp thread breaks or snarls or the fabric being produced is imperfect. This will move the switch |26 away from the contacts |21 to open the starting circuit and thereby stop the warp-knitting machine.

When the switches ||3 and 4 are opened to stop the warp-knitting machine, the flow of current through the coil 44 of the solenoid 39 will be interrupted. This will permit the leaf springs 13 and the spring pawl 66 to force the rod 93 downwardly, rotating the bar 86 in a clockwise direction and thereby carrying the pin 84 clear of the card 24. The downward motion of the spring pawl 66 will also index the ratchet wheel 62, which will in turn index the shaft 58 and the carriage or punch 14 to align the pin 84 with vspring pawl 66 is preferably adjusted so as to be somewhat longer than the height of one of the ratchet teethy 68 to insure that the downward motion of the springk pawl will move the pin S4 clear of the card before the spring pawl engages a ratchet tooth 88 to index the carriage 14. Any number of teeth Bil may be provided on the ratchet wheel B2 depending upon the number of stops it is desired to record on a single card.

The operating cycle of the stop-recorder will be repeated each time the knitting machine is started and stopped. Each such cycle of operation will produce a visible mark in the card and the total number yof such marks may be readily determined with the machine running by inspecting the card through the transparent plate I8. After a bolt of fabric has been produced, the knitting machine is stopped and the bolt of fabric removed therefrom. The card 24 will be removed from the stoprecorder at the same time and fastened to the bolt of' fabric to provide an accurate record of the number of stop-marks, which record may be employed to grade the fabric.

It is to be understood that the foregoing detailed description is given merely by way of illustration and that many variations may be made therein without departing from the spirit of our invention;

Having described our invention, what we desire to secure by Letters Patents is:

1. An automatic stop-recorder for use with machines, comprising a recording device, means operatively'connected to said recording device and to an element of said machine for oper-ating said recording device to produce a record of the number of times said machine has stopped, and means for preventing operation of said machine until a record medium has been inserted into said stoprecorder.

2. An automatic stop-recorder for use with machines, comprising a recording device, means operatively connected to said recording device and to an element of said machine for operating said recording device to produce a record of the num ber of times said machine has stopped, and means for preventing the removal of a record medium from said stop-recorder when said machine is running.

3. An automatic stop-recorder for use with machines, comprising a recording device, means operatively connected to said recording device and to an element of said machine for operating said recording device to produce a record of the number of times said machine has stopped, means for preventing operation of said machine until a record medium has been inserted into said stoprecorder, and means for preventing the removal of said record medium from said stop recorder when said machine is running.

4. An automatic stop-recorder for use with warp-knitting machines and the like, comprising a recording device, means operatively connected to said recording device and to an element of said warp-knitting machine for operating said recording device to produce a record of the number of times said warp-knitting machine has stopped, and means for preventing operation of said warpknitting machine until a record medium has been inserted into said stop-recorder.

5. An automatic stop-recorder for use with warp-knitting machines and the like, comprising a recording device, means operatively connected to said recording device and to an element of said Warp-knitting machine for operating said record- 6 ing' device' to produceA a record ofthe .number of times said warp-knitting machine has stopped, and means for preventing removal of a record medium from said stop-recorder when said warpknitting machine is running.

6. An automatic stop-recorder for use with warp-knitting machines and the like, comprising a recording device, means operatively connected to said recording device and to an element of said warp-knitting machine for operating said recording device to produce a record of the number oiV times said warp-knitting machine has stopped, means for preventing yoperation of said warp-knitting machine until a record medium has been inserted into said stop-recorder, and means for preventing removal of said record medium from said stop-recorder when said warpknitting machine is running.

'7. An automatic stop-recorder for use with warp-knitting machines and the like, comprising a recording device, and solenoid means operatively connected to said recording device andv to an element of said warp-knitting machine for operating said recording device to produce a record of the number of times said Warp-knitting machine has stopped.

8. An automatic stop-recorder for use With electrically driven warp-knitting machines and the like, comprising a recording device, and solenoid means operatively connected to said recording device and to the electrical power leads of said warp-knitting machine for'operating said recording device to produce a record of the number of times said Warp-knitting machine has stopped. Y'

9'. An automatic stop-recorder for use with warp-knitting machines and the like, comprising a recording device including a pin for periorating a record medium, and means operatively connected to said recording device and to an element of said warp-knitting machine for operating said recording device to drive said pin through said record medium to produce a record of the number of times said warp-knitting machine has stopped.

10. An automatic stop-recorder for use with warp-knitting machines and the like, comprising a recording device including a pin for perforating a record medium, and means operatively connected to said recording device and to an element of said warp-knitting machine for driving said pin through said record medium when said warpknitting machine is started whereby said record medium cannot be removed from said stop-recorder when said warp-knitting machine is running, and for withdrawing said pin from said record medium when said warp-knitting machine is stopped to thereby produce a record of the number of times said warp-knitting machine has stopped.

11. An automatic stop-recorder for use with warp-knitting machines and the like, comprising a recording device including a pin for perforating a record medium, means operatively connected to said recording device and to an element of said warp-knitting machine for driving said pin through said record medium when said Warpknitting machine is started, whereby said record medium cannot be removed from said stop-recorder when said warp-knitting machine is running, and for withdrawing said pin from said record medium when said warp-knitting machine is stopped to thereby produce a record of the number of times said warp-knitting machine has stopped, and means for indexing said pin and said record medium relative to each other when said pin is clear of said record medium.

12. An automatic stop-recorder for use with electrically driven Warp-knitting machines and the like, comprising a recording device including a pin for perforating a record medium, solenoid means operatively connected to the electrical power leads of said Warp-knitting machine and to said recording device for driving said pin through said record medium when said warpknitting machine is started whereby said record medium cannot be removed from said stop-recorder when said warp-knitted machine is running, and spring means operative when said warpeknitting machine is stopped for withdrawing said pin from said record medium.

13. An automatic stop-recorder for use with electrically driven warp-knitting machines and the like, comprising a recording device including a pin for perforating a record medium, solenoid means operatively connected to the electrical power leads of said warp-knitting machine and to said recording device for driving said pin through said record medium when said warpknitting machine is started whereby said record medium cannot be removed from said stop-recorder when said warp-knitting machine is running, and spring means operative when said warp-knitting machine is stopped for withdrawing said pin from said record medium, and for in dexing said pin and said record medium relative to each other when said pin is clear of said record medium.

14. An automatic stop-recorder for use with electrically driven warp-knitting machines and the like, comprising a recording device including a pin for periorating a record medium, solenoid means operatively connected to the electrical power leads of said warp-knitting machine and to said recording device for driving said pin through said recoid medium when said warp-knitting machine is started whereby said record medium cannot be removed from said stop-recorder when said warp-knitting machine is running, spring means operative when said warp-knitting machine is stopped for withdrawing said pin from said record medium, and ratchet means for indexing said pin and said record medium relative to each other when said pin is clear of said record medium.

l5. An automatic stop-recorder for use with warp-knitting machines and the like, comprising a recording device including a pin for perforating a record medium, means operatively connected to said recording device and to an element of said warp-knitting machine for operating said recording device to drive said pin through said record medium to produce a record of the number of times said warp-knitting machine has stopped, and means for preventing operation of said warpknitting machine until said record medium has been inserted into said stop-recorder- 16. Warp-knitting apparatus and the like, comprising an electrically driven warp-knitting machine, a starting circuit for said warp-knitting machine, a stop-motion for opening said starting circuit to stop said warp-knitting machine, a recording device, means operatively connected to said recording device and to an element of said .varlknitting machine for operating said recording device to produce a record. oi the number of times said warp-knitting machine has stopped, and means for opening said starting circuit and thereby preventing operation of said warp-knitting machine until a record medium has been placed in operative relation to said recording de* vice,

ROBERT H. ROUGHSEDGE. HANS G. LUSTIG.

BEFEREN CES CITED The following references are oi record in the iile oi this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,017,949 Cobb Oct. 22, 1935 2,020,694 Mauritsch et al. Nov. 12, 1935 2,131,706 Joyce et al Sept. 27, 1938 2,206,518 Strzalkowskl July 2, 1940 

